Nutrition Expert and Author Shares Important Diet Information For ADD, ADHD and Weight Loss

This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Fountain of Youth Summit, which can be found at fountainofyouthworldsummit.com. In this excerpt, Phoenix Gilman shares on maintaining serotonin levels in ADD, ADHD and weight loss.

The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Phoenix Gilman, the author of "Diet Failure - The Naked Truth About Weight Loss."

PHOENIX: This whole thing with ADD, ADHD, if people and the parents and everyone were to come to understand that everything we put in our body obviously affects us physically, but to understand that it also affects us mentally and emotionally, our ability to concentrate, this whole ADD, ADHD, well no wonder most of these kids are bouncing off the walls and can't focus. One, we have to remember what it was like to be a child, first of all. That to me is so important. That child has so much energy that should not be harnessed with a drug. If parents were to understand that everything that they put in their child's diet, even though they probably think, I'm sure they think they're doing right with the low fat milk and the cereals and all that, and the bagels. But all those foods are all very high GI. And the juices and things like that and of course, what kid doesn't enjoy a Red Bull which is nothing but caffeine and sugar. All those things deplete that brain chemical which, among many things, will lead to more cravings, more binge eating and the so-called ADD, ADHD.

KEVIN: Yeah.

PHOENIX: So, just by understanding what a healthy diet will help tremendously in that child being able to focus and to lose the weight and to be a much healthier child without having to drug them with, you know, sort of Ritalin or Strattera.

KEVIN: Sure. And with kids, if we can move into that just for a little bit...

PHOENIX: A-ha.

KEVIN: ...I mean, kids like chicken fingers and french fries and ketchup. I mean, how do you get them to, as a parent...

PHOENIX: Yeah.

KEVIN: ...what does a parent do to get them to eat a healthier diet?

PHOENIX: Well, that's another excellent question because I talk about it in the book saying, you know, I wrote the book in a dialogue form to one, to give a voice directly to the consumer. And so, the woman says to me, "Well, you can eat like that because you don't have children. I have children." And I wanted to put that out there, because I do understand that it is, when you have kids, that's a whole another thing. I don't have to worry about anyone, it's just me. However, there is no better time to help your child than now and he is a child. They might not like it right away, but you can do it slowly. There are things that you can just start to incorporate. I mean, most kids like eggs. You can start instead of giving them breakfast cereal every morning.

KEVIN: A-ha.

PHOENIX: You know, Hot Pockets and Pop-Tarts and things like that. Slowly start to put other healthier things in there. And the dietary supplements as well, Kevin, that are crucial to be able to maintain that brain chemical so you can maintain on this healthy way of living and eating, is even though in our industry we have to ... those standard claims, keep away from children. However, if I had a child, knowing how safe it is, I would have them on this product that they could then, because that is the most important thing for me, to maintain that brain chemical so I can get on with my life and do the things that I need to do and staying and eating healthy is the most important thing. So, that would be a good place to start to also then really educate yourself to know what's healthy, start there and then also get on that supplement.

Because that's the key. That's the key. Again, all diets, generally ninety-eight percent of all diets fail unless you understand how to maintain that serotonin. And so that's really the missing link for any of the diets that are out there.

KEVIN: Right. And you talked about supplements a little bit. What are some of the ingredients in a healthy supplement regimen?

PHOENIX: A-ha. Well, for me, I don't really get too much into, my key focus, as I said, is to help maintain serotonin.

KEVIN: Yeah.

PHOENIX: I have my own personal thing. I mean, I'm not really big and overloading on supplements even though I'm in the industry. I could be taking twenty or thirty a day based on what the reports say that you need. I try to get as much as I can naturally through my food. I'll take a good multiple vitamins and minerals ......

KEVIN: A-ha.

PHOENIX: I take an extra E and B. And other than that, the most important one for me, if I only had to take one, it would not be any of those, it would be the product that will elevate my serotonin. And the ones that I recommend in my book, I don't promote my products in my book even though I spent four years developing supplements to prove these theories, that I had read, the clinical theories, it is about sharing those products and the supplements that people can go in any health food store and get. And by far, the one that is the favorite of mine and has the most wonderful studies to support and what I have used in all my products in the last seven years, is called 5HTP, 5 hydroxytryptophan.

KEVIN: OK. Tryptophans, OK.

PHOENIX: Yeah. And there's other ones that I list but that is by far the best, and they could be picked up, as they say, it's great. Because why? It's safe, it's affordable, it's effective, extremely effective and no prescription required.

KEVIN: Wow. That's interesting. And what does it do chemically?

PHOENIX: Well, actually the 5 is an amino, it's a natural amino acid, it's found from the Griffonia seed, a plant out of Africa, South Africa.

KEVIN: A-ha.

PHOENIX: And it is the closest thing to serotonin. It crosses... it's easily...to cross the blood-brain barrier, which the blood-brain barrier is very, very protective for obvious reasons. From anything that can go in there. But the 5 has what I like to call, the "Key" to quickly get across that barrier. And so, once it gets in across the blood-brain barrier, it transforms into serotonin, thereby elevating this brain chemical.

KEVIN: Wow.

PHOENIX: And unlike any diet that anyone's been on in the past, Kevin, I always say, you know, "What do we think about it especially women when we're on a diet?" We think about all the foods we can't wait to eat once we get down to that perfect size.

KEVIN: Yeah, it's true.

PHOENIX: And so, and plus, diets are associated with starvation, deprivation and frustration. And eventually, we end up with our head in the bag for whatever it is we crave. Because, not knowing that what's driving us to consume those things is this brain chemical depleted. So, unlike any diet that anyone's been on, whether you're trying to lose weight, whether you want to help alleviate depression or ADD or help lower your risk for heart disease, cancer, all those things, it is absolutely imperative to be able to maintain it. And to maintain it with a safe effective dietary supplement, Kevin. Once you're able to maintain that brain chemical, the most amazing thing happens and that is, you will no longer be driven to consume those things. You could have those foods, those trigger items, those comfort foods that you thought you couldn't live without, you could have them right in front of you and you would no longer want them. Why? Because the brain is now satiated. It's content. It has no need, no desire to push you for those things. And that is what makes this work long-term. Because what happens when you maintain the serotonin, you subsequently stabilize the insulin. You're no longer consuming the food and/or beverages that constantly trigger the insulin, making the body store more fat, more fat, leaves depression, more cravings, all the issues that will come to a cycle you now start to stabilize the body. The body starts to burn its own stored fat instead of constantly triggering it, and that is the crucial long-term link.

KEVIN: Wow. It sounds just fantastic to be able to have that power.

PHOENIX: A-ha. It is. Absolutely. That's why I have so many wonderful testimonials. People say, "Look, for the first time in my life, I'm not driven to consume those." They just simply lose the desire. And a lot of people say, "Oh, you know, I just found new willpower." I said, "I don't care what you want to call it as long as it's working."

KEVIN: Yeah.

PHOENIX: What it is is just simply, because it happens within your own head, it really is. It feels like, "Wow, I finally got it." But it's nothing more, you know, not to take away, it's powerful but it's simply nothing more than you finally understanding how to safely maintain that neurotransmitter.

KEVIN: Wow. You just mentioned testimonials. Why don't you share with us, you know, a story or two about how, you know, this has worked for the people you worked with.

PHOENIX: There's two I'd love to share. There's one, it's so emotional, though, it was a woman I was doing a show out at Minnesota and I do that really early in the morning and she wrote me and she said, "I heard you one cold wintry morning on WCCO and I almost drove off the road in shock of how you could know what I struggled with all my life with food addiction, carb addiction, never being able to keep the weight off. I felt like such a failure." Anyway, this woman went on to lose forty-five pounds in about four months, which is a nice, steady pace, not too quick...

KEVIN: Yeah.

PHOENIX: ...which I tell my clients, "Look, I will never tell you you're going to lose thirty pounds in thirty days. I'm not even going to tell you you're going to lose fifteen pounds in thirty days. This is about coming to understand the long-term solution, and to how far you want to take it, if you add in working out, doing some weight training to help build that lean muscle mass, you could take it probably a little quicker but it is, for me, always about long-term." But anyway, that woman with a huge...she was a binge eater for her whole life. She was about my age, forty-seven at the time. And she just could not control it. She said, "I felt like such a failure." Having lost the forty-five pounds, she had kept it off for a year, which is a huge success, because sometimes, like people say, "Oh, I can lose the weight. It's keeping it off that's an issue." So, most of the people that I have now, the book has been out a year, these people have maintained that. And she says now, she says, "You know Phoenix, it is so wonderful to finally be able to go out to dinner with my two boys, enjoy a meal, have a nice piece of pie without wanting to eat the entire pie."